By morning, it was done.
The Holloway Foundation once hailed as the city's beacon of medical charity was all over the news. Headlines screamed about stolen millions, dying patients, hush money. Board members were named. Secret offshore accounts, fake vendors, bribed inspectors it all spilled out like poison in the sun.
But the headline that punched the air out of Matt's lungs wasn't about her father.
It was about her.
"INSIDER WHISTLEBLOWER: DAUGHTER OF HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR IMPLICATED IN SCANDAL."
Her face the photo from her hospital ID was everywhere. Her phone wouldn't stop vibrating under the motel pillow. Emails. Missed calls. Threats. Hate.
She sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the screen. "They know it's me, Kevin," she whispered. "I thought you said we'd leak it… safely. Anonymously."
Kevin said nothing. He stood at the small window, staring through a crack in the faded curtain at the parking lot. An unmarked black SUV idled by the curb. It had been there since dawn.
Matt's eyes darted to him. "Kevin? Tell me you didn't…"
He turned to face her. The lie was ready on his tongue but the weight of it stuck in his throat this time. Her eyes were too wide, too broken. And for the first time, she saw it the cold edge behind his warmth. The truth she hadn't wanted to admit.
"You used me," she breathed. "All of it the files, the nights, the 'I love you' it was all just to bring him down."
Kevin swallowed, but the words wouldn't come. He didn't tell her she was wrong. He didn't tell her she was right either.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. It was worse than if she'd screamed. "You promised we'd run away together."
He took a step forward, but she recoiled like he'd raised a hand to her. "Don't. Just… don't."
Outside, the SUV door opened. Two men stepped out, suits dark, sunglasses darker. Richard's men not cops, not yet. Private muscle. The kind that cleaned up messes before the real law could.
Kevin's mind spun. He could see it all: Matt in handcuffs. Richard walking away free if he got to the files first. Emily's grave, cold and lonely. His promise to her No mercy.
But staring at Matt now hair tangled, eyes red, shaking in his old sweatshirt the line between revenge and ruin blurred until he almost couldn't breathe.
He crossed the room in two strides, grabbed her shoulders. She tried to twist away, but he forced her to look at him.
"Listen to me," he hissed. "You have to run. Now."
Matt laughed a small, broken sound. "Run where? My face is on every screen in this city, Kevin."
He grabbed her chin, forced her to meet his eyes. "There's money in the bag. Take my car. Get on the highway, head north I'll handle them."
Matt stared at him searching for any flicker of the man she thought she'd loved. But all she saw was a stranger who'd torn her life apart and called it justice.
Her voice cracked. "Why are you helping me now? After everything?"
Kevin's jaw tensed. He couldn't say Because I care. He couldn't say Because I used you, and now I can't stand what I did.
So he told her the only half-truth that mattered: "Because if he gets you, he wins. And I can't let him win."
Outside, the men were halfway to the door. Kevin shoved Matt toward the tiny bathroom. "Out the window. Now. Don't look back."
Her eyes glistened a thousand things unsaid. Then she did what she always did: she trusted him, one last time.
She climbed through the window, hit the cold pavement behind the building, and ran.
Kevin turned back as the door banged open. The two men stepped in, scanning the empty room then their eyes locked on him.
"Where is she?" one barked.
Kevin cracked his knuckles, a grim smile twisting his lips. "You'll have to go through me."
As they lunged, Kevin braced himself. He'd promised Emily he'd bury Richard Holloway but maybe the final price was burying himself too.